The Diyawadana Nilame of the Sri Dalada Maligawa Nilanga Dela said that the Kandy Esala Perahera festival will begin on August 17 with the kap planting ceremonies of the four devalas at an auspicious time. He said that at the auspicious time of 6.12 am the ritual of kap planting of the Natha, Vishnu, Kataragama and Paththini devala will take place in a Northwesterly direction.
The Diyawadana Nilame mentioned this at a discussion held at the multi-purpose building of the Sri Dalada Maligawa yesterday (5) to talk about the Perahera organization affairs while declaring the dates on which the Esala Perahera festival would be held. He said further that after the kap planting ceremony the perahera will be held internally at the four devalas for a period of four days and the first Kumbal Perahera will parade the streets subsequently on August 21.
After the Kumbal Perahera parades the streets for five days the Randholi Perahera will parade the streets starting on August 26. The final Randholi Perahera will parade the streets on the night of August 30. The water cutting ceremony will be carried out at dawn the next day and the afternoon Perahera will parade the streets thereafter, ending the Esala Perahera festival, the Diyawadana Nilame said.
Kandy SSP Chamil Ratnayake said that since the Covid pandemic and the problems that arose because of that have been eradicated to a great extent they expect large crowds will come to view the Peraheras and that they intend deploying about 6,000 police officers on duty during that time.
Anunayake of the Asgiriya Chapter Venerable Anamaduwe Dhammadassi Nayake Thera, the District Secretary of Kandy Chandana Tennakone together with other government officials as well as S.Bandaranaike the Basnayake Nilame of the Natha Dewala, Mahen Ratwatte, the Basnayake Nilame of the Vishnu Dewala and the Basnayake Nilame of the Kataragama Dewala Daminda Udurawana participated on this occasion.
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